Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1887-08-04
ASYLUM AT GLENwooD. IA.

Inc most renlafkaDle instance OF hereditary
crime and pauperism of which there is a
well traced history is that of the "Juke" family
of New York state. This interesting record
was the work of Richard l.. Dugdale, a
member of the Prison Reform association.
He learned more or less of the life history
of 100 descendants of the Juke sisters, and
presents a deplorable and appalling array
Of facts and figures. He traced this
wretched family through six generations, and
carefully calculates the cost to the COM
munities infested by the fifth and sixth
generations at over $1,3o0,000, not to take
into consideration the entailment of crime,
misery and pauperism of survivors i'll sue
ceeding generations, and incurable disease,
insanity and idiocy, as necessary sequence
of all this debauchery. Eighty Of the Jukes
were idioiic or insane. The crimes of the
family covered everything in the almost end
less variety known to the law. Both Martha
and Ada Juke were women of feeble minds,
but they left a record, infamous though it be,
as "mothers of criminals"
The census shows upwards of $4,000 feeble
minded and idiotic persons i'll the United
States, women in due ratio predominating.
The Juke sisters are the prototypes of like
creatures to be found in jails and poor houses
in every state in the Union. The result is
seen, but the source is not considered. Prisons
and asylums multiply, and except with the
few the causes and prevention of crime, in
sanity and idiocy receive little attention or
thought.
There are two views taken by the world in
considering the defective classes. One Is
general disregard of the misery attending un-
fortunateS, in the hope and belief that the
doctrine of the survival of the fttest'
will ultimately wipe them out. The propo-
sition, too, to destroy the helpless and
incompetent young is one that cannot be
tolerated by civilized beings. That course is
left to savages and the brute creation. The
second view is that of paternal government
for detectives. DR.. kerlin, in discussing the
question of the government dealing with the
wants and rights of the individual, says:
SIN our present development, government,
where best for the common veal, should as
sumo the relation of parent to its subject;
licensing here and refusing there; correcting
an evil at one point or absolutely abatlng
that evil at another; giving personal liberty
where self reliance proves its riGhtful claim;
abridging personal liberty where its exercise
is attended with crusade against the rights
of the peaceable, whether in the spoliation of
the house breaker or house burner, in the
tyranny and brutality of the inebriate's home,
or in the corruption of the very springs OF
life in the prostitution of the brothel."
DR.. Powell, of the Iowa Institution for
Feeble Minded, says: "The strongest letters
of appeal for admission of inmates to our in
stitution come from parents who have ad-
vanced to that period in life when thoughts OK
the future welfare of their children crowd
heavily upon them. The mother of an imbe-
cile child is one of the most pitiable objects in
the world, for her burden of helplessness,
grief and care must increase with the pass
ing years, and to many an aged mother has
come the thought, who will care for and
guard my afflicted daughter in the futureF
"The very idea of feeble child being with
out suitable protection is painful, not only
TO parents. but to all good citizens. 1t IS not
onlv Justice to the individual, but to the
state. that persons thus afflicted should have
the strong arm of the commonwealth to shield
and protect them. 1t is not enough that the
state provide temporarily for this class OF un-
fortunates; it must be a life school and home
for its inmates, thereby preventing the trans
mission of infrmities to still more de-
graded progeny" An Iowa legislative COM
mittee urges the permanency of the feeble
minded institution on the grounds of public
safety, believing that to turn inmates out
with the possibilities Of reproducing their
kind was a disregard of law both human and
divine.
New York and Pennsylvania have already
taken advance steps in providing special and
accommodations for unguarded
idiotic females. Despite false political phil
Iosophv and hardness of heart, the noble
movement in behalf Of the permanent sup
mort of the weakrlinded and other dependent
classes will eventually succeed and all such
delinouents will become the wards OF the gov
ernment. SIN the future" says DR.. Kerlin,
ssthe correlation of idiocy, insanity, pauper-
fem and crime will be understood. There will
ho fewer alnshouses and more workshops.
Ia;ls criminal courts and grogshops Will cor
decrease. and here and there over
fbe country may be the villages OF the
s;mnle, made up of the warped, twisted and
;ncorrigible, happily contributing to their
o,rn and the support Of those more lowly-
,o;.;as of refugee in truth-havens in which
III shall live contentedly, because no longer
nj nor taxed beyond their mental
md moral capacity. They shall go out no
more nor and they shall neither marry nor De
piyen in marriage in these havens aeoica'eo
% incompetency." -
was led to an investigation OF tins ques-
nj nnhlic control and isolation OF 'ne